The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-10-01
HALF A MILLION.

1t will require about half a million
dollars to pay for the improvements
which Salt La City should at once
and immediate extension of the water
works system. The mains ought to be
laid at least throughout the more popu-
Ious districts of the city-in fact to
within the reach of all who have the
reasonable right to the better water ser
vice. It is believed that the fever3 and
kindred diseases afiicting so many peo-
pie are directly chargeable to the alb
sence of pure water for home uses. By
far the larger part of the city is without
water from the mains; thousands of
our people are using water from the
necessarily unclesn bitches and from
wells which are little better than cess
pools into which filth from the surface
seeps and oozes. That thee wells are
foul will be conceded by all who,
being accustomed to the use of the
water from the mains, drink from the
average well. An extension of the
mains will lower the death rate, and
reduce doctors bills. The mains should
be laid and owned by the corporation,
and individuals ought not to be required
to advance the money for the original
cost. This plan has been followed lately
by reason of the necessities of the city,
and not because it was just and fair.
The better scheme would have been TO
tax the lots for the mains IN the start,
but that not having been done, the
original plan of the city, paying for the
mains out of the general fund, should
be continued to the end. If individuals
must pay for the mains hereafter, it will
be long years before thousands of people
will be supplied with pure mountain
water.
Then we want to make a start at
sewerage, and at least open one or two
main sewers. The absence of sewer
system IS telling on the health of the |
community, and is undoubtedly |
operating against the growth and pros
perIty of the city. One of the FIRST
questions which stranger DESTROYS of
living here asks is regarding the sewer
age, and when he learns that the drain
age is by absorption, he expresses as
constituent that anybody is alive in the
city. Not only must sewers be con-
structed, but provision must be made
for the disposal of the sewage. This
is one Of the puzzling problems we are
called upon to solve.
Street paving is another thing de-
msnding immediate attention and call
ing for the expenditure of much money
The necessary current expenses of the
are all the time increasing.
consu ming the revenue as fast as it
comes in, and putting out of the pos
81 bilities the idea of undertaking any of
the Improvements suggested with only
the present increase. The plain truth
is, the city must borrow. and while
about it We should borrow enough to
do what ought to be done at once,
Half a million dollars, wisely, eco
and honestly expended would
start Salt Lake on the road to greatness
and wealth. It would so improve the
city as to make 1t possible for double
the.number of inhabitants now here to
make this their dwelling place, and we
believe it would within a year from the
time the money was expended increase
the population one hundred per cent
It certainly would add a greater per
cent to the value of the property of the
city in the aggregate. The corporation
has reached the limit of It's borrowing
and will have to remain as it
is until the Legislature shall give it
power to negotiate further loans. That
the Legislature will confer the power if
the citizens desire it, is next to certain.
It therefore remains for the property
owners to say whether or not they will
ask for the authority to borrow money
to make Improvements, which all con-
cede has been delayed too long. Mean
time, before the meeting of the Lsgis-
iature, it would be we'll for, the City
Council to make reasonably careful es-
innate of the PROBABLE amount of money
the corporation can wisely and bene-
6cialIy expend during the coming two
years.